Community fruit park prepared in San Bernardino

SAN BERNARDINO >> It was supposed to take six hours to dig the 30 holes where fruit trees will soon be planted, but with more than 30 volunteers, the stage was set for the state’s third community fruit park in less than half that time.

“I was trying to make this happen since I think 1997,” said Charlie Jacobs, who co-founded the Terrace West Neighborhood Council that year and has been pushing for a community garden since. “And now, with all this help, here we are.”

Saturday’s “big dig” — digging holes three feet deep and three feet wide — prepared the way for a community planting April 26.

That’s when the work — and the reward — starts for neighbors like Gena Nelson, 38, and the eight children she cares for.

“It’s great to have organic food that we can walk to, something that’s not filled with pesticides and preservatives,” Nelson said as she put a piece of chicken wire into a hole to test that it was big enough. “And to know how to garden, that’s something my kids wouldn’t get otherwise.”

The community aspect is key, said Mary Petit, founder and president of the nonprofit Incredible Edible Community Garden.

“We just facilitate, but this is all about the community,” she said. “They pick the trees they want, they plant them, they care for them. It’s really encouraging to see.”

The fruit park at Nicholson Park on San Bernardino’s Westside, just east of the Rialto border — Nelson, who lives two blocks away, is technically a Rialto resident — is considered the third in California and the second in San Bernardino County, after Petit’s group helped plant a similar one in Montclair, she said.

The goal is to have an urban growing space combined with education on growing, storing and preparing food, eventually combined with gardening certifications, mini-grants for local businesses and more.

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“We have so many problems with diabetes and cancer and being overweight, especially children, we wanted them to have an opportunity to be healthy and also the children to know where food comes from,” Jacobs said.

And, many observed, it brought together a wide group of the community — firefighters, parks and recreation employees, local homeowners and even the homeless.

“People want to volunteer,” said Kathy Mallon, a volunteer and newly sworn-in member of the city Parks and Recreation Commission. “It’s things like this that will turn San Bernardino around.”